All 23 valid words for the NYT Spelling Bee. Center letter: U.
💬 Join the discussionHeads up — this shows the hardest word of the day.
The NYT Spelling Bee for August 21, 2026 was one of the harder puzzle, with 23 valid words built entirely around the center letter U — which must appear in every answer.
With only 23 valid words, this puzzle had a smaller word pool than average, which often makes it trickier to reach Genius. The outer letters were D, G, H, N, O, R, and the longest answer aside from the pangram ran 8 letters for 8 points. Reaching Genius required 67 points out of a possible 95; see how this compares in the full answers archive.
The pangram was worth 16 points — more than any other word that day. With answers ranging from 4 letters up to 8, working methodically from the shortest words up is the surest route to Genius; see the full method in our strategy guide.
Prefer to solve it yourself? Get spoiler-free hints for today's Spelling Bee instead — the words grouped by starting letter and length, with a nudge toward the pangram, so nothing is spoiled until you ask.
Prefer a nudge over the full answer key? Here is how the 23 words for the August 21, 2026 Spelling Bee break down — how many begin with each letter, at each word length — followed by the two-letter start list. Work these first, then reveal the complete list only if you get stuck.
| Start \ Len | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 3 | 2 | 1 | · | · | · | 6 |
| G | 1 | 1 | 1 | · | · | 1 | 4 |
| H | 2 | 1 | · | · | · | · | 3 |
| N | 1 | · | · | 1 | · | · | 2 |
| R | 1 | 2 | · | · | · | · | 3 |
| U | 2 | · | 2 | · | 1 | · | 5 |
| Total | 10 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 23 |
DO2DR1DU3GO1GR2GU1HO2HU1NO1NU1RO2RU1UD1UN4
Spoiler warning — the complete answer list is below.
Definitions for the August 21, 2026 answers — so you know exactly what you found, or what you missed. Pangrams are marked ★.
Spoiler warning — every answer word is spelled out and defined below.
Word definitions from WordNet® 3.1, Princeton University.
The players who find UNGROUND and NUNHOOD consistently know their Latin and Greek roots. These books teach the exact system that unlocks words like GROUNDHOG before you ever see the puzzle.
How did today go? Share your progress, favorite finds, or where you got stuck. Be kind — no spoilers-shaming.
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